A lot of consumers subscribe to the philosophy that natural is “good”-this goes for food, medicine and even cosmetics. When I ask the patients I see in the clinics what they mean by natural being “good” they general ascribe characteristics such as being safer and more effective…and therefore better than the chemical medications that their western-trained doctor (me) prescribed. I will not espouse the good qualities of standardized, quality-controlled, laboratory-synthesized (but more often than not, initially discovered in nature) medications here. Instead, I will explore a home-grown line of natural cosmetic products, Human Heart Nature (HHN).
In HHN’s case, natural means at least two things: 1) made of natural ingredients (at least 95% of the product), they only allow “non-natural” ingredients if there is no readily available natural alternative and the ingredients meet strict criteria on human and environmental safety 2) kind to nature -products are biodegradable, come from a renewable source (no petroleum-derived ingredients), and processed in a way that is kind to the environment.
HHN’s website lists potentially harmful ingredients found in most cosmetic products that are not found in their products . I have also been at the receiving end of advice from at least two HHN enthusiasts claiming that since HHN is natural, it is 100% safe and therefore the risk of getting allergies when using these products are nil.
Generally, I would say better to avoid the potentially harmful ingredients listed in the HHN website, and in some of the medical literature, if you can. However, I will disagree with the claim that since a product comes from a natural ingredient there is no longer any chance that the user could become allergic to it. Shrimps, strawberries and peanuts are all natural food products and yet many patients can and do develop allergies to them. But, since HHN has taken pains to avoid using ingredients that are likely to cause allergies in their products, the risk of developing allergies when using HHN products may be lower than when using products that include allergenic ingredients (but that is entirely different from saying that there is no risk at all of developing allergies to natural products).
Not only is HHN natural and PRO ENVIRONMENT, it is also PRO-PHILIPPINES and PRO-POOR. Great product philosophy and great advocacy all rolled into one. But wait. All these great ideologies could only get a company so far, bottom line, the product needs to sell itself-the ideology is just the icing on the cake. And so, on to the product reviews….
My first introduction to HHN was through its Love Minerals make-up line so I will be reviewing products from this line for now. I have heard a lot about mineral make-up but did not trust myself to use loose-powder make-up formulations (too messy). When HHN came up with their pressed mineral make-up format, I decided to give it a try.
